THE homeless and needy were warmed up with dollops of festive faith and extra helpings of hope at the Grimsby Food Kitchen's Christmas meal.
Bighearted Christians Cath and Ken Homewood laid on a festive spread with the help of Sonja and Shelly's Café in Freeman Street for about 30 people who are trying to get their lives back on track.
Many have been homeless, are battling drug and drink addictions or have no-one else to turn to – and all finished their Christmas dinners – with all the trimmings – feeling positive about 2013.
For Sally Lidgard, 38, it is the first Christmas she has spent without her family around her.
Now living in Grimsby's Salvation Army, the mum of a three-year-old boy lost everything after suffering a nervous breakdown four months ago.
She said: "This will be my first Christmas without my son. It is a very hard time of year. I don't have any family anymore so to have people like Cath and Ken around helps so much. I am so grateful to them.
"Today I feel like I am part of one big family. They have been so supportive and it is nice to be around people who have gone through similar things to me. It makes me feel less alone."
Chris Gilly, 32, has been using the Food Kitchen for three years. A qualified bricklayer, he lost his home and job to drink but is now rebuilding his life thanks to Cath and Ken.
He said: "Christmas is a hard time of year. It can be lonely and you start thinking about the past and how things used to be but today has helped. It is nice to know I have the support. I owe a lot to Cath and Ken, what they have done means everything to me."
Sadly, the number of people using the Food Kitchen has grown dramatically in the past year and they now help 65 people every week.
They hate turning people away but last week they were forced to when they ran out of food within an hour of opening their doors to the Food Kitchen, Open Doors, on Hainton Avenue, Grimsby.
Cath believes the growing number is not just because more people know about the Food Kitchen, but because more people are finding themselves in financial hardship.
Dave Galbraith, 53, is new to the Food Kitchen and has just moved into a new flat thanks to the help of Cath and Ken and the Salvation Army.
After his marriage of 23 years broke down and he lost his job in London, he moved to Grimsby to lodge with a friend, which didn't work out and he ended up sleeping rough in People's Park.
He said: "I have never been in this position before. I was married for 23 years, I owned a house, I had a good job, then I lost it all.
"Today has been brilliant. It has made me feel hopeful for the future now and that is down to Cath and Ken. Nothing is too much trouble for them."
And with more people coming, more donations are needed for the Food Kitchen and food parcels which Cath and Ken run all year round.
Cath said: "Because these guys are so special to us we try to make Christmas special for them. We want them to build a future for themselves. This might not give them an education or skills, but it gives them hope, knowing we are there for them."
Ken added: "If we can give them just a little bit of hope at this time of year that they didn't have before, then we have made a difference."
If you want to help the Food Kitchen, e-mail faye.preston@gsmg.co.uk or call 01472 372236.